James Whitcomb Riley--The Sign-Painter Poet
The following story, in substantially the words of the narrator himself, I have heard many times from Mr. Charles E. Neff (the present writer's father-in-law), who at the time of Riley's transition from sign-painter to poet, was a resident of Warsaw, Indiana, one of the towns which Riley passed through in his wandering, and the city in which the incidents narrated took place:
"It was in the year 1873, when I was a young man twenty years of age, working in my grandfather's drug store at Warsaw, that I first saw Riley. One day, I remember, there appeared on the streets of the town a tramp (as he was supposed to be at that time), a blind tramp led around by a boy. I learned that he was soliciting trade as a blind sign-writer. He made signs on the plate-glass windows with soap and did beautiful scroll work and fancy lettering on several windows in
the town that day. This 'blind' sign-writer was no other than the now celebrated James Whitcomb Riley. The town seemed to please Riley, and he soon got enough work to warrant his setting up a little shop there. He did all kinds of general work, such as painting houses and signs. Two of the houses he painted were those of Selden Webber and B. Q. Morris. Of the signs I remember many that were about town until very recently, all bearing his name very plainly. Among others was the one that hung over the walk at Hitzler's furniture store for twenty years, the one at Foster's drugstore, where Riley 'hung out' a good deal of
the time, and the one at Phillipson's clothing store, this last being, I believe, the only one now preserved in Warsaw. The Phillipson sign' was buried in the cellar of the owner's store for about twenty years, and in cleaning up he one day accidentally came upon it and put it to
This item is owned by the Indiana State Library. Permission to publish or reproduce this item is required and must be obtained from the Manuscripts Section, Indiana State Library. Please call 317-232-3671 for more information.
This item is owned by the Indiana State Library. Permission to publish or reproduce this item is required and must be obtained from the Manuscripts Section, Indiana State Library. Please call 317-232-3671 for more information.
Transcript
James Whitcomb Riley--The Sign-Painter Poet
The following story, in substantially the words of the narrator himself, I have heard many times from Mr. Charles E. Neff (the present writer's father-in-law), who at the time of Riley's transition from sign-painter to poet, was a resident of Warsaw, Indiana, one of the towns which Riley passed through in his wandering, and the city in which the incidents narrated took place:
"It was in the year 1873, when I was a young man twenty years of age, working in my grandfather's drug store at Warsaw, that I first saw Riley. One day, I remember, there appeared on the streets of the town a tramp (as he was supposed to be at that time), a blind tramp led around by a boy. I learned that he was soliciting trade as a blind sign-writer. He made signs on the plate-glass windows with soap and did beautiful scroll work and fancy lettering on several windows in
the town that day. This 'blind' sign-writer was no other than the now celebrated James Whitcomb Riley. The town seemed to please Riley, and he soon got enough work to warrant his setting up a little shop there. He did all kinds of general work, such as painting houses and signs. Two of the houses he painted were those of Selden Webber and B. Q. Morris. Of the signs I remember many that were about town until very recently, all bearing his name very plainly. Among others was the one that hung over the walk at Hitzler's furniture store for twenty years, the one at Foster's drugstore, where Riley 'hung out' a good deal of
the time, and the one at Phillipson's clothing store, this last being, I believe, the only one now preserved in Warsaw. The Phillipson sign' was buried in the cellar of the owner's store for about twenty years, and in cleaning up he one day accidentally came upon it and put it to
